Proposed bills tell teachers one strike, they're out

GRAND RAPIDS -- Two bills in the state House could cause teachers to suffer greater penalties -- including loss of certification for two years -- for taking part in a strike.

State Reps. Bill Rogers, R-Howell, and Jimmy Womack, D-Detroit, filed bills intended to add teeth to the 1994 law that made strikes illegal, but made it impractical to punish violators.

The issue comes as Grand Rapids teachers prepare to enter their third year without a contract. The union last year sent letters to substitute teachers asking them not to cross picket lines in the event of a strike, but leaders said they are not walking off their jobs.

The sides were negotiating Wednesday.

Educators say the existing law, despite its limitations, seems to be successful at keeping strikes to a minimum. But tensions between labor and management might flare as schools make deeper cuts.

"I think both sides agree that strikes are illegal," said Ron Koehler, assistant superintendent for the Kent Intermediate School District. "Schools are facing real cuts in their foundation grants and will have to make some difficult, difficult decisions."

But a teachers union leader said the bills were "uncalled for" and he expects them to go nowhere as lawmakers focus on financial issues.

"There have only been three strikes in the last 15 years, two of them in Detroit," said Doug Pratt, communications director for the Michigan Education Association, the state's largest teachers union. "Strikes are illegal, and they happen only when one of the sides is bargaining in bad faith."

Public Act 112 stipulates striking teachers be fined one day's pay for each day they refuse to work.

But teachers say the three strikes, including the walkout last fall in the Wayne-Westland district -- proves the law was too cumbersome to take up to thousands of teachers through the process.

Both bills were referred to the state House Labor Committee and are awaiting a hearing.